At Marble Arch, waiting to catch the bus home after birthday day out. Connor and Tom (by Sara Ryan)
On 4 July 2013, Connor Sparrowhawk drowned in a bath at a facility run by Southern Health NHS Trust. Connor was 18 years old. He had learning disabilities and epilepsy and he had been left to bathe unsupervised behind a locked door. His family’s campaign for transparency provoked an inquiry that revealed Southern had failed to investigate hundreds of unexpected deaths. Deaths of learning disabled people were least likely to be investigated. Connor’s brother Tom Ryan writes:
It’s been nearly three years since Connor passed away, three years that have gone strangely quick and have had a huge amount of low points but also some amazing moments, my personal favourite being the mentions of Connor in parliament, something I can imagine him being ecstatic about. Being so young at the time it happened, 13 years old, I was very naïve about a lot of things, the NHS, the British legal system and general parliamentary workings. I genuinely believed that as a country everyone important would come together to sort out the mess that is the mental health care system we have.
